Goddess Atlas, Starting from the Queen

After returning to the Xiaoyao Prince's Mansion, Lu Ming went to the underground secret chamber and released the two vengeful spirits, Wang Xiaoling and Yang Shaojie.

The moment the two souls emerged, they were drawn to the blood lotus radiating a crimson light in the secret chamber. Nourished by the spiritual energy released by the blood lotus, their souls became much more solidified.

At this moment, Lu Ming looked at Yang Shaojie and asked, "Tell me about the Xuanlin Army."

Hearing Lu Ming's words, Yang Shaojie came to his senses and then asked, "What does Your Majesty want to know?"

Yang Shaojie didn't know where to begin, so he simply let Lu Ming ask him questions, and he would answer them.

Lu Ming asked, "Where is the Xuanlin Army stationed?"

Yang Shaojie replied, "West Mountain Hunting Grounds."

Upon hearing Yang Shaojie's words, Lu Ming fell into deep thought. No wonder people didn't know about the Xuanlin Army. The Xishan Hunting Grounds were where the emperor hunted, and no one was allowed to enter without the emperor's order.

In the past, the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty would take his royal children and a group of ministers on a spring hunt every year, but the current emperor is obsessed with Taoist cultivation and has not held a spring hunt for more than ten years.

Unexpectedly, Emperor Zhou actually kept an army in the Western Hills hunting grounds.

Lu Ming then asked, "When was the Xuanlin Army founded?"

Yang Shaojie pondered for a moment, then replied, "I don't know the exact time, but it should be ten years ago. I joined the Xuanlin Army ten years ago. When I joined the Xuanlin Army, there were only three thousand people in the army."

Lu Ming then asked, "And now?"

Yang Shaojie said, "The Xuanlin Army now has six thousand men."

Lu Ming thought to himself, "This Zhou emperor is no ordinary person; he was able to train an army of six thousand men right under the noses of all the civil and military officials."

It's unclear whether his cultivation of Taoism is a facade or if he truly seeks immortality.

Thinking of this, Lu Ming continued, "Why did the Xuanlin Army release evil spirits to massacre the village?"

Yang Shaojie replied, "For the sake of people's hearts."

Lu Ming said, "If it's for the sake of people's hearts, why don't the Xuanlin Army just go find the refugees directly? There seems to be no need to use evil spirits to kill people."

A few days ago, there was a flood in Jiangnan, and there were many refugees. If it were for the sake of human hearts, some people could have been sent to kill those refugees. No one would have noticed if some refugees had died.

Slaughtering the villages surrounding the capital is too risky.

Yang Shaojie said, "The commander of the Xuanlin Army is probably afraid of being discovered. If evil spirits massacre a village, people will think that it was all done by evil spirits and will not suspect people."

Lu Ming thought to himself, "That makes sense. If that's the case, then the Grandmaster who was possessed by evil spirits was also deliberately let in by the Xuanlin Army."
They likely released that evil spirit into the capital to divert the attention of the Zhenling Guard. After all, they had slaughtered so many villages, and if the Zhenling Guard continued to investigate, they would eventually find some clues. However, if they manipulated a terrifying evil spirit into the capital, making the Zhenling Guard believe that this evil spirit was the one that slaughtered the villages, they could close the case early and let it go.

Lu Ming pondered for a moment, then asked, "Do you know what the Xuanlin Army wants so many people's hearts for?"

Yang Shaojie replied, "I don't know either. There are people specifically responsible for handling those people's personal matters."

Lu Ming asked, "Do you think it's possible that the commander of the Xuanlin Army might betray the emperor?"

Lu Ming wanted to know whether all of this was an order from the Zhou Emperor, or whether the commander of the Xuanlin Army had betrayed the Zhou Emperor and acted on his own initiative.

Before he died, the master possessed by the evil spirit cursed the "dog emperor" with resentment. Lu Ming suspected that the evil spirit had broken into the capital for the sake of Emperor Zhou.

Perhaps the commander of the Xuanlin Army betrayed Emperor Zhou and released that evil spirit into the capital, hoping it would kill Emperor Zhou. However, because he also possessed dragon energy, he targeted the wrong person.

Of course, all of this is just speculation. Yang Shaojie said, "I don't know."

He was just an ordinary soldier in the Xuanlin Army, and he usually obeyed the orders of the Xuanlin Army commander. He did whatever the Xuanlin Army commander told him to do. He naturally had no way of knowing whether the Xuanlin Army commander had betrayed the emperor.

Seeing that he couldn't get anything out of Yang Shaojie, Lu Ming raised his hand and put Yang Shaojie and Wang Xiaoling back into the Demon Suppression Tower.

He then left the secret chamber and sent Yuezhi to the palace to deliver a message.

Lu Ming believed that Wu Wanrong would be very interested in this matter.

late at night.

Wu Wanrong, dressed in white undergarments, lay on the soft couch, about to go to sleep, when she heard a maid's voice at the door, "Your Majesty, Yuezhi requests an audience."

Seeing that Yuezhi had come to see her so late, Wu Wanrong knew that the scoundrel must have something important to say, so she said, "Come in."

The next moment, Yuezhi pushed open the door and entered.

After entering the palace, Yuezhi bowed to Wu Wanrong and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty the Empress."

Wu Wanrong asked expressionlessly, "What is it?"

Yuezhi said, "The Prince of Xiaoyao wants Your Highness to visit the Prince of Xiaoyao's residence in the next couple of days. He said he has obtained some information that Your Highness will find very interesting."

Upon hearing this, Wu Wanrong frowned slightly. She believed that the scoundrel was not lying. Sending someone to deliver a message to her so late at night meant that he had probably obtained some important intelligence.

However, the fact that the Prince of Xiaoyao sent her to his residence instead of having Yuezhi bring the intelligence directly to the palace clearly indicates what he intended to do.

He just wanted to use giving her information as an excuse to sleep with her.

Even knowing she was about to be manipulated by that scoundrel, Wu Wanrong still planned to go to the Prince Xiaoyao's residence. The information that could prompt the Prince Xiaoyao to send someone to deliver a message late at night must be information that would be of great help to her.

Thinking of this, Wu Wanrong stood up and said to Yuezhi, "You go back first."

"Yes, Your Highness, this servant takes her leave!"

After Yuezhi left, Wu Wanrong changed into a night outfit and headed straight for the Xiaoyao Prince's Mansion.

Before long, Wu Wanrong arrived at the Prince Xiaoyao's mansion. However, just as she was about to enter Lu Ming's courtyard, she suddenly felt a terrifying aura lock onto her.

Without any hesitation, Wu Wanrong ran straight to Lu Ming's room.

Meanwhile, in the courtyard where Chen Qingying was, she and Lin Yingqiu sat in the pavilion. Looking at Lu Ming's courtyard, she said, "They don't seem like assassins."

As a Grandmaster, her senses were extremely sharp. Although Wu Wanrong was skilled in lightness skills, she was still noticed by Chen Qingying. However, she did not make a move immediately, after all, this was in the Xiaoyao Prince's mansion, and no assassin could hurt the Xiaoyao Prince.

Lin Yingqiu said thoughtfully, "Judging from her figure, she should be a woman."

At this point, Lin Yingqiu paused slightly. In the dead of night, a woman ran to Lu Ming's room. Thinking of Lu Ming as a lecherous man, Lin Yingqiu couldn't help but curse inwardly, "Adulterous couple."

The two women didn't pay much attention after that. Even if the woman was an assassin, a lone assassin couldn't possibly have any impact on Lu Ming.

At this very moment, inside Lu Ming's room.

Lu Ming's burning gaze swept over Wu Wanrong, who was dressed in black night clothes. "I thought you wouldn't arrive at the Prince of Xiaoyao's residence until tomorrow, but I didn't expect you to come so soon." (End of this chapter)